Nigel Adkins took the unusual step of showing his Hull City players footage from the 2002 Winter Olympics in the build-up to a pivotal Easter programme.

The 1,000m speed skating final in Salt Lake City is best remembered for the almighty pile-up on the final corner that allowed no-hoper Steven Bradbury to come from nowhere and snatch the most unlikely of gold medals.

Adkins’ intention, no doubt, was to illustrate that sport will forever hold the capacity to shock but it now needs something even more miraculous for City to reach the Championship play-offs.

A five-point gap to the top six has been stretched to seven points after West Brom condemned the Tigers to back-to-back away defeats. Not even three straight wins in response can realistically hope to bring a play-off finish for Adkins and his players now.

There will be no shame in coming up short of the top six in a season that promised to bring a relegation fight but for the second week running there was cause for regret in amongst the pride in this team.

Six days after they had stumbled to an unjust defeat away to Middlesbrough, City could again count themselves unfortunate as a five-goal thriller eventually fell West Brom’s way five minutes from time.

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Dwight Gayle’s second-half double was responsible for sucking the last life from City, who had fought so hard to overturn the first-half lead given to West Brom by Kieran Gibbs’ crisp volley.

Twice Todd Kane had galloped up the right flank to send efforts beyond Sam Johnstone and into the corner of the net. The first was a gem and though the second owed plenty to good fortune, the travelling fans had begun to wonder if this was to be the day City came bouncing back into contention.

Alas it was not and instead West Brom, who continue to chase the top two, found the rousing finale that settled a hugely entertaining contest.

To emerge empty-handed was again cruel on a City side that could not have given more. Even in adversity, losing both Markus Henriksen and Reece Burke to injury, to a man they ran themselves to a standstill.

Adkins’ only criticism was the defensive shortcomings of his team. The three goals shipped revealed the lingering flaws in a defence that has not quite been up to the standards required for a promotion bid.

“Goals win games, defences win titles,” said a sombre Adkins afterwards. “We’ve got two young centre-halves and when they’ve played regularly, we’ve won games. But they’ve gone off injured too many times or been unavailable. It’s not ideal for anyone. Teams that get promoted tend to have a goalkeeper and a settled back four but that’s not been the case for us.”

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Adkins, ever the optimist, reluctantly accepted that this was a defeat too many for his side.

Rivals elsewhere dropped points, with Bristol City and Derby both held to draws, but Middlesbrough’s 1-0 win over Stoke has made them the team that could be impossible to catch by Easter Monday. If Boro can secure just three points from their remaining three games, the Tigers’ race will be officially run.

To have come this far and still be in with a mathematical chance of promotion remains a remarkable feat but City departed the Hawthorns knowing that the gap could well have been smaller. A compact shape throughout the opening hour consistently stifled the Championship’s most prolific side on home soil and but for a well-taken volley from Gibbs late in the first half, converting Tosin Adarabioyo’s deep cross, City appeared to have West Brom’s number.

Although fizzing drives wide from Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki had served the Baggies notice of the visitors’ ambitions in the first half, the best period for City came immediately after the break.

An equaliser from Kane in the 48th minute was superb. Driving from deep and ignoring the obvious pass out wide to Bowen, the on-loan full-back punished backtracking defenders when rifling an unstoppable drive into the corner from 25 yards out.

West Brom took a quarter of an hour to compose themselves but by then they were behind.

A length-of-the-field run from Bowen had concluded with Johnstone denying City’s top scorer down low, while Fraizer Campbell also should have done better when failing to get his shot off inside the West Brom box.

City’s appetite to attack by the hour mark was insatiable and a deserved second was their reward. Kane had shown precision and skill to beat Johnstone once but his second, a floated cross, owed plenty to good fortune as the fingertips of the Baggies’ keeper turned the ball into the net.

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The Tigers’ lead, though, lasted just three minutes and never returned.

A right-wing corner taken by Chris Brunt exposed the failings of a defence that too often has struggled to defend set-pieces this season and Gayle was on hand to pounce from two yards out.

“We designated a player whose responsibility it was to mark him but unfortunately Gayle gets the equaliser,” said Adkins. “That was a big turning point in the game.”

Neither side was content with just a point with the best part of half an hour to play.

City had half chances, as did West Brom, but it was Gayle who produced the killer instinct. Jacob Murphy’s wicked cross from the right found the striker unmarked to turn into an empty net.

In the end it was an apt way for City’s play-off challenge to conclude.

The commitment and desire was faultless, applauded enthusiastically by the travelling supporters at full-time, but this team’s best has never quite been enough to make that elusive burst into the top six.